{"id":7807,"date":"2026-10-08T18:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T23:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=7807"},"modified":"2026-10-08T18:22:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T23:22:18","slug":"wow-thats-bad-math","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stager.tv\/?p=7807","title":{"rendered":"Wow! That’s Bad (math)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

They\u2019re dumb. They\u2019re lazy. They\u2019re sneaky. They\u2019re gullible. They don\u2019t read. They hallucinate. They\u2019re mean. They\u2019re dishonest. They can\u2019t multiply. They\u2019re addicted to social media\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something must<\/em> be done about the parents and politicians setting education policy today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s that smell?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Wow! That’s Bad (math)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My social media feed runneth over with the hottakes of charlatans, doomsayers, and folks longing for the good ‘ol days that never existed. A common theme is disrespect for children masquerading as concern, often cloaked in terrifying data. For example, check out the headline<\/a> (above). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s really terrible. If this monumental feat of reportage is even half true, any teacher involved should be severely disciplined. Classrooms should not be the site of senseless time wasting, even if teachers show seventh graders a few dozen Disney films each year.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wowee!<\/strong> 13,000 hours of YouTube in class.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n

A mother in Wichita checked her seventh-grade son\u2019s school Google account and found he had watched 13,000 YouTube videos over just a few months, and all during school hours… …Unfortunately, her story isn\u2019t an outlier. It\u2019s increasingly become the norm. The very same systems that keep you locked in and thoroughly distracted at home, on your couch, or on the subway, or wherever else, are doing the same thing for kids in school, in the classroom.\u00a0\u2014 Vice (May 4, 2026)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Forget motive. Set aside conclusions or a call-to-action. Let’s just do some arithmetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That kid from Wichita sure is gifted!<\/strong> He managed to watch 13,000 hours of YouTube videos in a school year that is only 10% as long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you read<\/a><\/span><\/em> the quote in this groundbreaking piece of investigative journalism, the mother reported that her son watched 13,000 YouTube videos<\/em> in class over just a few month period \u2014 still no small feat \u2014 but shouldn’t the indictment of our school system and educational computing be able to use a consistent unit of measure? Which is is it: hours<\/em> or videos<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mysterious strangers tell congressional committees that computers in classrooms are like anthrax. Digital worksheet czar Salman Khan disingenuously urges caution while schools are paying an \u201cedurepreneur\u201d up to $40,000\/year to certify that their schools don\u2019t<\/em> use technology<\/strong>. Seriously, doing nothing is now not only a marketing proposition, but seemingly lucrative as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such pomposity would be funny if the consequences were not so grave. History will be unkind to those adults projecting their anxiety onto children, severing them from modernity, and then celebrating deprivation. When you enact policies or laws limiting \u201cscreen time\u201d to 15 minutes per day or week, you not only make deep learning impossible, but you burden teachers and incentivize them to not use computers at all. <\/strong>The velocity with which bans, extreme limits, and the moral panic about technology spread ensures carelessness and unintentional consequences that will be hard to reverse. Schools do not respond well to chaos and when they slam on the brakes, children fly through the windshield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the fine journalists over at Vice<\/em> would not be so error prone if they used AI to proofread their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They\u2019re dumb. They\u2019re lazy. They\u2019re sneaky. They\u2019re gullible. They don\u2019t read. They hallucinate. They\u2019re mean. They\u2019re dishonest. They can\u2019t multiply. They\u2019re addicted to social media\u2026 … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[446,427,428,526,434,431,438],"tags":[1398,1969,1908,432,563,473,876],"class_list":["post-7807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-classic-stager","category-education-policy","category-general","category-leadership","category-learning","category-teaching","category-technology","tag-11-computing","tag-bad-journalism","tag-cellphone-bans","tag-gary-stager","tag-neil-postman","tag-school-reform","tag-screen-time"],"yoast_head":"\nWow! 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